Niger Tornadoes came from a goal down to beat Abia Warriors 2-1 at the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja in the match day 29 of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
Coach of Niger Tornadoes FC, Abubakar Bala hailed the resilience of his 10-man Tornadoes for getting the deserved to 2-1 home win over Abia Warriors of Umuahia.
Coach Bala said that his lads showed character and determination ensuring that they get the job done even as they had to do it in the hard way.
He said that when Ifeanyi Okoye received his marching order of the game in the 56th minute the whole plan of his team changed and was forced to make some hard decisions of substitution.
“It was not that easy for us when Okoye was shown the red card, I hard to change my tactics, and we could have sealed the game but we wasted our clear chances”, he said.
According to him, his players kept their heads cool, followed and never showed any sign of that they were a man down, but continued to attack and defend until the final whistle.
He added that the team will continue to push for its survival and cannot afford to go on sleep at this crucial stage.
He appreciated the twelfth man on the pitch, the teeming supporters of the team that cheered them and encouraged them even when they played over 30 minutes with one man less.
Abia Warriors opened scores in the 4th minute through Uche Ihuarulam amidst protest by Tornadoes players adjudging that it was an offside, but the match officials stood their ground to award the goal.
However, Abia Warriors took to delay tactics but were quickly punished in the 9th minute as Lukman Mohammed bulldozed his way to equalize for the home side.
A quick break in the 43rd minute onrushing Issa Kunle was brought down by Warriors defenders and the centre referee wasted no time to award a spot kick to the home side.
After a walk by Warriors players for the award of the penalty, they returned to the pitch of and Solomon Owello converted the spot kick in 45+3 minutes.
In the second half Tornadoes became more purposeful after Okoye saw red card in 56th minute for second yellow card offence of the game, the home side could have sealed the game in the closing stages of the game but Tasiu Lawal wasted the glorious opportunity.
Abia Warriors could not use their numerical advantage as the home side maintained the 2-1 score line and the Confluence Stadium; Lokoja has remained a fortress for the Minna based side.
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